With Every Waking Breath
by MagicGirl41
Summary: Simmons waits and waits and waits for Fitz to wake. She waits until she is sure that she's going mad, until she can see the worry in Skye's eyes and the pity in May's. But it's Fitz, and so she waits anyway. A tale of waiting, waking, reunion, and a love that was always meant to be.


Wow.

Hey guys! I'm still alive! It's been so long since I posted anything, but I promise I _have_ been writing! I've been working on bigger projects at the moment, one of which my _Merlin_ fans will get to see soon. I've also written a lot of one shots, but I've been too busy to type them up! But how could I not write some FitzSimmons in honor of their absolutely beautifully heartwrenching scene in the finale?! It had to be done!

I've written a _ton_ for the Avengers fandom, but I've never actually posted any of them, so I guess this is my first Marvel story! Yaaay! I hope you enjoy it!

If I owned Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the show wouldn't be as heartbreaking, nor as brilliant. All credit for the characters and universe go to the show writers ;)

* * *

The first few weeks after almost drowning are the worst of her life. She wakes from nightmares of Fitz dying, sinking to the deep where she can't reach him. She kicks and struggles and tries to get to him, but she always fails and they both drown. The hallways are empty at night and she often roams them, trying to keep her head out of her dreams. She reminds herself that the dreams They survived, they made it, Fitz is alive.

But he's still not awake.

-:-

She can't hold his hand, not when the only thing keeping him alive is six inches of protected glass. She can't hold his hand, but she pushes her fingers against the glass separating them and she waits. She waits for hours and hours until someone comes to get her, and when her job is done she goes right back to waiting. Skye is worried, Simmons knows. The agent comes by often, trying to coerce her friend into doing something else, trying to take the scientist's mind off of things, but Simmons won't be swayed. Eventually May comes and drags Skye away to training, and Simmons knows she hadn't imagined the sympathy in May's eyes. The woman is just as worried as Skye, but at least she's on Simmon's side. Coulson comes by sometimes, but with S.H.I.E.L.D. being rebuilt and with him at the front of it there's very little time he can spare. Triplett is off doing God knows what, so usually it's just Simmons and Fitz, but that was how it was always meant to be, she tells herself.

She waits.

She waits and she talks.

She tells him about her day, about the new punishments May invented for Ward, about Skye's newest shenanigans, about the recent innovations in S.H.I.E.L.D. technology. She tells him about anything and everything until she eventually breaks down and tells him about how much she misses him and will he please _wake up_ already and oh how she wants to kiss his sleeping lips but there's glass between them so she lays her head down on top of the container and cries herself to sleep.

She waits for two more months before he wakes.

-:-

After six weeks in glass they deem it safe to remove him, and she finally has a hand to hold while she waits and a chest to cry on after she talks, but she still has another seventeen days before he is able to hear her.

-:-

She's sitting there telling him about the repairs on their lab when his eyes twitch. It is the smallest thing, that twitch, but she gasps louder than she ever has before, and she clings to his arm as his eyelids flutter. He murmurs her name. The doctors haven't even called the others before she's on top of him, covering him in kisses, and he says her name a little louder and she sobs all over him. His shaking hand finds it's way up to her hair and she cups his face and draws him to her. Their lips collide and she tastes home and life and _Fitz_, adorable beautiful Fitz, who was more scared to tell the girl he loves that he loves her than to give up his life for hers.

Finally the need for air is too great and she pulls back. He's giving her that look, the one he's been giving her for years and only now does she realize what it means. She leans in to kiss him again and tears of joy leave tracks on both their cheeks.

-:-

The others try to visit more often now, now that there's someone to visit, and Fitz's room is filled with laughter and family, for their team is their family now. And sometimes Fitz will trail off in the middle of a sentence and sometimes he'll forget where he is or who they are, but most of the time he's just as Fitz as he's ever been, and she holds his hand and beams.

-:-

He stays in the sick ward for another month and a half before he's cleared to go, and when he finally is cleared it's with a list of medical problems—heart, lungs, physical strength. He will never again see combat, and he will never again be allowed to accompany his team on missions. This hurts, she knows, and she sees it haunting his eyes. But the alternative to his injuries is infinitely worse, and he's _here _and he's _hers_, so she leans down to kiss him and doesn't look back.

-:-

They take to sleeping together, not because they're dating (although that has _something_ to do with it, Fitz jokes—she punches his arm) but because she is still waking from nightmares of him drowning, and she was wandering the halls every night to find him. She'll fall asleep in his arms and wake up with her nightmare on her lips, but he centers her, anchors her, keeps her balanced. He strokes her hair and talks to her, and his voice lulls her back to sleep.

-:-

He wakes from nightmares too, and she holds him until the shaking stops and he buries his tear-streaked face in her hair. They fall asleep the way they live—together, as a team.

-:-

They spend years with Coulson and his team, years of missions and inventions and growing big enough for their own skins. The Hydra attack changed them, changed all of them, and it takes a lot out of them. It also gives a lot, in courage and growth and character. They build up S.H.I.E.L.D. from the ashes and give those still loyal to it a home. After a while the Avengers regroup, and while it's odd to see Coulson comfortable in any team but theirs, Simmons finds that she really likes the super team, Natasha Romanoff especially. The woman can sure give May a run for her money.

But all great things come to an end, if at least to pave the way for things even greater. Fitz's heart condition gets worse, and after eight years with Coulson the scientists pack up their things, hand in their transferals, and take up the reins of an altered life.

And as S.H.I.E.L.D. rebuilds from the ashes Simmons wonders where they will go, what they will do, and where they will end up.

-:-

Where they end up is in a small house in the U.K., with wrinkles on their faces, rings on their fingers and a S.H.I.E.L.D. commission to keep them going. S.H.I.E.L.D. bought them the house, and Coulson left them a promotion with his retirement note. They're retired now as well, retired from any sort of full time work at least, but neither of them can go long without something new to discover, so they work strictly in the science division until their hands are too wasted to be of anymore use. Skye and May come by sometimes, and Coulson too, although he's really too old for travel, not that it would stop him. Triplett stops by when he can. Ward comes too, Ward with his conflicted sides and long-earned redemption, and the three of them talk late into the night, ending with red eyes and genuine smiles. But usually it's just the two of them, Fitz and Simmons.

How it's always meant to be.

Between soft snores, Fitz pulls her closer to him, and Simmons buries her face in his neck, smiling softly. They're getting old, the two of them. Coulson passed away last spring, and his team buried his S.H.I.E.L.D. badge with him, right next to the Captain America collector's cards. She wonders how long it will be until it's Skye's turn, or May's, or theirs.

Fitz presses a kiss to her forehead and she leans up to catch his lips in hers. They aren't young anymore but he still tastes the same, the same adorable, beautiful boy who captured her heart. He mumbles against her lips and she pulls him closer, so she can feel his tired heart beating against hers.

She can hear him murmur and she smiles.

"_Jemma?"_

_"Hmm?"_

"_I love you."_

_She presses their faces together so she can feel his breath on her lips. _

"_Show me."_

* * *

Please review!


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